N.C. Museum Hopes to Purchase John Coltrane's Piano

[groover]

N.C. Museum Hopes to Purchase John Coltrane's Piano

by KYW's Paul Kurtz



A musem in North Carolina is trying to raise money to purchase a piano owned by jazz legend John Coltrane (right), who launched his career in Philadelphia.

Lashelle Vernon-Yates of the High Point Musem is using a keyboard theme to raise the $14,000 needed to buy Coltrane's piano from a New York auction house:

"We've started the '88 Keys for Coltrane' campaign, and we're selling each one of the keys for $162.50."

She says Coltrane played the stand-up piano as a boy growing up in High Point, NC, then took it with him when he moved to Philadelphia in 1943:

"Even though he was a jazz saxophonist, he actually used the piano to compose all his music. And we know that he used it to compose 'Blue Train' as well as 'A Moment's Notice.' "

The museum is hoping to display the piano alongside other Coltrane memorobilia, but it has to come up with the cash by May 16th.

"To be able to bring an item that he used to compose that music back to the community will really mean a lot."

If you want to help the museum, you can send a check made payable to: High Point Museum
1859 East Lexington Avenue
High Point, NC 27262
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Interesting to learn that he actually composed his tunes on piano.